Belted Plaid as Casual Attire?

[ChromeScholar]

Maybe I mis-understood - Are you calling the great kilt the "belted plaid"

The belted plaid and the "great kilt" are the same thing.

[JRB]

I have a belted plaid and I have only worn it to renaissance faires so far. However, I have seen pictures of someone I know wearing his belted plaid to a Burns night supper and he looked great. He wore it with modern full dress accessories (Prince Charlie jacket and waistcoat, bow tie, tartan hose, brogues). After seeing those pictures I definitely would consider wearing my belted plaid to any very formal occassion where one might wear a fly plaid.

[Phil]

Yes, we usually see a few great kilts here around festival time but it is more a "re-enactment" outfit nowadays.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Looks like there is some confusion of terms going on here. Just to clarify, these terms are all eqivalant:
belted plaid; feilidh-mor (large wrap); breacan feile (tartan wrap); great kilt

"Great kilt" is no doubt the more common term today, though it is the most modern. All refer to an untailored length of cloth, some 3 to 6 yards in length, some 50" to 60" wide, gathered and belted around the waist.

The term feilidh-beag (small wrap), often Anglicized as "phillabeg" refers to a single width length of cloth (25" to 30" wide) that was gathered and belted about the waist.

So the diference between feilidh-mor and feilidh-beag is width, not length, as some of the posts here have seem to have implied.

Some will use the term feilidh-beag to refer to the modern tailored kilt, but many (myself included) follow the convention of using feilidh-beag to refer to the untailored small kilt and reserving "kilt" for the tailored garment.

Here is a brief timeline that summs up these different stages of the kilt's development:
http://www.albanach.org/generations.html

[Mael Coluim]

Yesterday, for Kilted Friday I did wear a belted plaide (Great Kilt, Feileadh Mhor) to work and then to Kilt Night. I really enjoy wearing, even more than my kilts but it was a first to do so to work. I had my doubts but wanted to give it a try in following up this post of Robin Hood’s.

I remember Matt Newsome’s advice in wearing it, to experiment and just have fun with it. I adjusted the plaid constantly most of the morning till I found a comfortable and workable approach in having part of the plaid across my shoulder. I normally would drape the left side over my chest to meet the right side coming over my back and clasp the two together on my shoulder. The weather was too hot for that to be comfortable. What I finally settled for was tying the plaid over my shoulder directly below to another part in a knot. As pictured below. I thought the epaulets on the shirt might help. They didn’t as most of the weight of the plaid just pulled my collar opened more on the left. Pinning the clasp to my shirt left two nice holes in my shirt. I didn’t want more holes! The clasp in the photo is purely ornamental, around the plaid and not holding anything on.

What I did notice were more comments on the wearing of the belted plaide than the kilt. There seemed to be greater admiration. At the end of my work day, there was a farewell party for a couple departing the community. I was asked to stand with them for a photo. Needless to say without the attire, the invitation would not have been made!

Would I wear it, again to work? Yes, I plan to!

Yes, that is dandelions on the bonnet!

[Nick]

It's not casual, but here's another greatkilt in a modern setting:



Cheers,
Nick